Lebanon, Bulgaria to establish permanent direct flights

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by dailystar.com.lb --BEIRUT: Lebanon and Bulgaria agreed Friday to establish permanent direct flights between Beirut and Sofia, following Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil’s meeting with Bulgarian officials in Sofia to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries. Bassil met with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, Speaker of the Bulgarian National Assembly Tsveta Karayancheva and his Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zakharieva, according to a statement from the Lebanese Foreign Ministry. During the meeting, the officials also agreed to form a joint committee to develop the two countries’ ties in commerce, agriculture, industry and technology. "We have many shared areas of interest that we have not explored sufficiently, and the time has come to do this in the fields of economy, tourism and culture,” Bassil said. “[Bulgaria offers] opportunities for investment and we provide high-quality services in medicine, engineering, law and banking,” he added.

The talks also touched on the issue of refugees. Zakharieva and Radev expressed support for the safe and dignified return of Syrian refugees to their home country - which Bassil has called for - with Radev further criticizing Europe for what he described as its failure on the issue. The Bulgarian president also described Lebanon as a stabilizing factor in the Middle East, and said he was looking forward to his trip to Lebanon, slated for next week. General Security announced earlier in March that over 170,000 Syrian refugees had returned to their country from Lebanon since December 2017. The total number - 172,046 - includes those who returned on their own as well as those who took part in voluntary trips organized by the agency.

Nissan executives allegedly orchestrated Carlos Ghosn's arrest to kill merger with Renault

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by CNBC - Robert Ferris - Nissan executives took steps to have former Chairman Carlos Ghosn jailed in the hopes the arrest would stall or kill any attempts to merge the Japanese automaker with its French counterpart Renault, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, who had in the past been close with Ghosn, said at a Jan. 31 meeting that he believed Nissan executives had gone digging for evidence and presented their findings to Japanese authorities with the purpose of removing Ghosn from power, the paper reported. Ghosn had reportedly been trying to merge the two automakers, who had formed an alliance in 1999.

Theories that Nissan executives might have had a role in Ghosn's arrest have abounded in the automotive world. Ghosn had become something of a national hero in Japan for his role in helping to turn around Nissan, but many who follow the industry say the Japanese would have balked at the idea of a foreign automaker such as Renault owning such an important company in Japan. Ghosn spent more than 100 days in jail in Japan for an array of alleged financial misdeeds before he was released on bail. He has been stripped of his roles at the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which he had formerly chaired. If found guilty he could face up to 15 years in prison. He has denied the accusations. Nissan was not immediately available for comment to CNBC, but company spokesman Nicholas Maxfield told the Journal that the motives of company executives is not relevant, and that Nissan found "substantial evidence of blatantly unethical conduct. The sole cause of this chain of events is the misconduct led by Ghosn."

Norway to boost support for Lebanon's education sector

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 BEIRUT, (Xinhua) -- Norwegian Ambassador to Lebanon Lene Natasha Lindt said Wednesday that her country will continue supporting Lebanon's education ministry to enable it to provide education services to Syrian refugees and to Lebanese students in public schools, local media reported. "We should increase visits between the two countries and bilateral meetings with the ministry to boost our support for the assistance program and work on improving the quality of education," Lindt was quoted as saying by the National News Agency. Her remarks came during her meeting with Lebanese Education Minister Akram Chehayeb. Lindt said this move is important for both the future of Syria and the Lebanese society. Meanwhile, Chehayeb said Lebanon appreciates Norway's support for the Lebanese education ministry while adding that Norway ranks fifth on the list of countries that offer support to Lebanon in the education sector for Syrian refugees.

Spotlight: Lebanese analysts hold different views on future of Lebanese-Russian ties

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by Dana Halawi BEIRUT, (Xinhua) -- Lebanese analysts have expressed different points of views about the extent to which Lebanon and Russia can cooperate in different areas in the coming period amid President Michel Aoun's two-day visit to Russia. Hilal Khashan, chair of the Political Studies Department at the American University of Beirut, does not see any potential collaboration between Lebanon and Russia. Khashan told Xinhua that Lebanon cannot buy Russian weapons or even get military donations from Russia because the United States, the main supporter of the Lebanese Army, will not allow it. The United States is the biggest provider of military aid to Lebanon, as the Lebanese army has received a total of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in military aid from successive American administrations since the 2006 war with Israel. Khashan believes that Lebanon and Russia cannot collaborate economically either. "Lebanon's economic ties are linked to the West and the Far East but not to Russia," he stated. He added that the only thing that Aoun hopes to achieve from his visit to Russia is to get the Russian administration to become more forthcoming about the return of Syrian refugees to their country. The strategy drafted by Russia aims at returning 890,000 Syrians from Lebanon to their country. Only 172,046 refugees returned so far out of 1.5 million residing in Lebanon.

Political analyst Rajeh Khoury reiterated Khashan's remarks by saying that the goal of Aoun's trip is to reactivate the Russian strategy which has stopped due to the inability of Moscow to pay for rebuilding Syria, noting that the United States and Europe do not want Syria's reconstruction to take place before reaching a political solution in the country. Khoury said that the Lebanese army is militarily allied with the Americans and Europeans. "We cannot accept military aid from Russia because the U.S. won't allow it. Also, the Russians do not have the intention to cooperate militarily with Lebanon," said khoury while adding that, on the other hand, holding talks with the Russians gives political weight to Lebanon in its relations with the West. "This will give the impression that Lebanon can receive support from other powers in the world which prompts the U.S. to increase its support for Lebanon," Khoury added. Khoury said that Russia may be interested in the oil and gas sector in Lebanon, but Russia can be benefited in a limited way because the Americans play a great role in this field. Khoury believes that the U.S. has a long term strategy with regard to oil and gas in the East Mediterranean which is why U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a declaration recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. "The Golan Heights may also have oil. Exploratory drilling suggests that the territory's reservoirs could potentially yield billions of barrels," khoury argued. Meanwhile, Sami Nader, director of Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs in Lebanon, ruled out the possibility of Lebanon accepting any military aid from Russia. However, he assured that Russia will definitely help with the return of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to their homeland because the Russians have great influence inside Syria and on the Syrian regime.

Nader is also much optimistic about the potential of an economic cooperation between the two countries. "We can have economic cooperation with Russia. The U.S. will not stand in the way. Russia is collaborating with Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the region. Even Israel has strong ties with Russia," Nader said. Nader believes that Russia and the U.S. can find a way to collaborate in Lebanon. Amal Abou Zeid, foreign ministry's representative on the joint Lebanese-Russian committee for the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, told Xinhua that Lebanon and Russia can surely cooperate on the economic levels but not in the military area. "We want to be far from international conflicts but we surely want to improve our strategic ties with Russia and this has already happened in the oil and gas sector," Abou Zeid said.

Lebanese PM Hariri undergoes heart procedure in France

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by AP -- Lebanon’s prime minister has had a heart procedure in a Paris hospital and is expected to be discharged the same day. Saad Hariri’s office says the 48-year-old underwent an hour-long angioplasty procedure, used to treat blocked arteries, on Monday. Hariri’s personal physician, Essam Yassin, says the prime minister is well and describes the procedure as a “preventive” measure. He says Hariri will return to his home in Paris later Monday. Hariri has been Lebanon’s prime minister for three separate periods since 2009. He is now presiding over his third Cabinet, after being named premier again in February. His father, Rafik Hariri, a business tycoon who also served as Lebanon’s prime minister, was assassinated in 2005.

UAE: Eight Lebanese Face Unfair Trial

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by www.hrw.org -- (Beirut) – Emirati authorities detained eight Lebanese nationals for more than a year without charge in an unknown location, ill-treating them and denying them their due process rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Their trial, which began on February 13, 2019, continues to be marred with violations. The third session is set for March 27. Family members told Human Rights Watch that the defendants, who face terrorism charges, have been held in prolonged solitary confinement and denied access to their families, legal counsel, and the evidence against them. At least three detainees told family members that state security forces forced them to sign statements while blindfolded and under duress, and one said they forced him to sign a blank paper. “The UAE authorities reveal in their treatment of these men just how unwilling they are to reform their unjust state security apparatus,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “These men deserve, at the very least, to be treated humanely and to receive a fair trial.” The men – all of whom are Shia Muslims – have each lived and worked in the UAE for more than 15 years. Seven worked at Emirates Airlines as flight attendants, pursers, or senior managers. Family members said that none had any known political affiliations. State security forces arrested one defendant between December 2017 and January 2018, three defendants on January 15, and four others on February 18, and continue to hold them in solitary confinement without access to legal assistance, family members said. At the second session of their trial, on February 27, 2019, the prosecutor charged them with setting up a terrorist cell with links to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah holds several key positions in the Lebanese government, yet is designated a terrorist organization in the UAE. Family members said that at least seven of the men still have not been able to meet with their lawyers and six remain in solitary confinement. All of the defendants deny the charges, family members who attended the hearings said.

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